


New Beginnings And Old Blurs

by XtaticPearl



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Conversations, Friendship, Gen, M/M, Team Dynamics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2017-10-25
Packaged: 2019-01-23 01:33:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12495464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XtaticPearl/pseuds/XtaticPearl
Summary: “Natasha -”“It’s one thing to keep a secret, Tony,” she spoke over him, not raising her voice but getting things clear, “and another thing to keep a good secret in a bad way.”“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tony knew he was doomed even as denial left his mouth but he was trained to shift around inquisitions.





	New Beginnings And Old Blurs

Tony sometimes forgot that there were other people who could hear him over the comm. 

It wasn’t always him with a team, to be fair. Talking to JARVIS in the armor was natural, easy and expected, and necessary. JARVIS was his second team-mate, his first commander-in-chief. Yinsen had been the first team-mate, an excellent fool for laying on the wire for Tony. To let Tony crawl over him to victory while he lay over the bomb that exploded. Tony had set the record for losing his team with that one, and he hadn’t expected to find others, to let others hear his disastrous plans of attack and defense. JARVIS was a dubious choice, no real consent on the part of the AI to be putting himself in danger every time Tony met an enemy. He was the best but it was never his choice per se.

Rhodey made the choice first and Tony hated him for it as much as he loved having the man by his side. Fighting Rhodey, fighting  _beside_  Rhodey, fighting for and with Rhodey was an unquestionable choice for Tony but Rhodey had made that too. He had chosen to be War Machine but also to be Tony’s partner when the gauntlet rose. 

The Avengers though, they confused him. 

“You okay?” Natasha asked as they entered the common floor after debrief. She wore more cuts than freckles and her jade eyes were sharp as she stole a quick glance at him when they walked side by side. 

“Perfect,” Tony shot her a grin, the one laced with  _Ms. Rushman_  and  _do you want to try my dangerous gauntlet during my last birthday bash?_ ; it was as real as Natasha’s understanding of Tony, something he wondered if she knew was all bluster. 

She nodded once, a quick bob of red hair, but her lips were tight, bow-strung in repressed knowledge. 

“You sounded strange on the comm,” she informed, pausing before adding, “Stranger than your techno-talk.”

“Ah, something you  _don’t_  understand? Travesty,” Tony commented between too slow blinks, trying to calculate the strength of her gait and the extent of her injuries to afford that mild limp she dragged between the fourth and fifth step.

She shifted her feet pattern without pausing and Tony paused for a second, looking up to find her looking away with a smug tilt to her lips.  _Ah_ , he observed,  _something **I**  don’t understand_.

“Cap’ll want more training sessions with shifting partners,” he offered, thinking back to the battle where Hulk hadn’t anticipated Hawk-eye and Thor had almost twisted Natasha’s wrist when he caught her mid-air.

“It’ll be good to be prepared,” she agreed and Tony wondered if she was ever a soldier like Steve, if she had gone through military drills in early winters and sweltering noons. She didn’t plan like one, too tricky to be regulated, but she survived like one. He thought of a rogue Black Widow joining the ranks of SHIELD and added the note to his mental file. 

“It was a good maneuver today,” she commented and they were rounding a corner, edging out of an open hall into a more constricted corridor. It was how she worked, Tony knew; dropping pieces in strategic moments till she found the right spot to swoop in. Steve was the soldier but Natasha was the spy; she worked direct but discreet. 

He didn’t thank her and she continued. 

“What’re you calling it?”

“I’m thinking of  _Hug and Fly_ ,” he said breezily, pushing, always pushing for a distance to let the core stay shielded, “You think Cap’ll make it official?”

“Skip the bridal style carry and he just might,” she quipped back, always the observer, the cataloguer of the crux points, “Though you might want to work on the code-names.”

“I’ll add it to the multitasking list,” he let his fingers drum against his side lightly.

“And the tone”

Tony had never trained to be a spy but he had worn enough masks to know when not to falter. He didn’t fumble and kept the urge to let a fake chuckle out. His current audience wasn’t always fooled easy.

“I’ll do my robot voice next time,” he offered with a grin and she let her own lips quirk into an equally fake smile.

“Yes, because your robots or AI voices are so devoid of emotions,” she observed and Tony knew a surgical strike when it hit but this lodged deep.

“Problem, Romanoff?” he asked calmly and she eyed him, feet slowing to a pause. 

“For me? Or for you?” she asked and  _really -_

“Natasha -”

“It’s one thing to keep a secret, Tony,” she spoke over him, not raising her voice but getting things clear, “and another thing to keep a good secret in a bad way.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tony knew he was doomed even as denial left his mouth but he was trained to shift around inquisitions.

Natasha kept her silence for a long moment but then brought up a hand to touch his arm, a warning or an attempt at warmth.

“Privacy isn’t something I question but Steve is - my friend,” she said, a pause before the designation because she was always careful.

“I’m not doing anything to him”

“That’s a shame,” she smirked and Tony saw why Steve said that she had a wicked humour. It was a fond argument he made any time Tony maintained that she would skewer him before joking. “I think he’ll like you doing things to him,” she shrugged, casual as though she wasn’t talking blase about innuendos a few feet away from the rec room, “Or the other way around, whatever works. My point isn’t about that anyway.”

“You  _do_  have a point?” Tony asked, playing glib, always chasing the end.

“Of course,” she shot him a look, something dangerous soft before jade covered the softness, “My point is that I’m glad that it was you.”

“I’m sure Wilson would have caught him if he had time,” Tony tried but Natasha knew, she  _knew_  by the tilt of her lips.

“I’m not sure if Steve wanted to be  _Sam’s_  catch,” she shrugged, and Tony let things fall.

“How long have you known exactly?”

“How long have you been forgetting that we can hear you flirt?” she countered with a repressed grin.

“We don’t - it’s bickering,” he corrected with as much seriousness as he could.

“Is that what it’s called now?” she mused, “In my times it went by ‘foreplay’.”

“I’m telling him you said that,” he choked on a laugh and her face relaxed, an unseen tightness lessening in its lines.

“Whatever helps you old men,” she teased, and yes, Tony could now read that it was teasing. It was strange, unfamiliar, but it was easy and more daunting. It was - relieving.

“He’ll start calling you ‘young lady’, mark my words,” he pointed out and her eyes twinkled in mischief, devious and open.

“You say that like I can’t escalate it,” she snorted and he nodded with a grin, watching as she squeezed his arm before letting go, “I’m glad it’s you.”

“You said that,” he pointed out and it was easy to ask, terrifying but easy, “You don’t think we’ll crash and burn?”

“I thought Tony Stark would crash and burn,” she said bluntly and it was cutting, it was a fading wound but it was real, “Turned out that it didn’t matter. There’s an A outside your Tower to prove it.”

“I knew you liked me only for my Tower,” Tony teased and Natasha rolled her eyes slightly but it wasn’t hostile. It was silly and simple. 

“Of course, your big phallic tower,” she said drolly to make him roll his eyes in return and eyed the door to the rec room, “To answer your question, I don’t think you’ll crash and burn. Well, maybe crash a little and burn sometimes but not - irrevocably. Nothing you won’t try to fix.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because,” she turned back to walk towards the rec room and spoke over her shoulder, “of what happened on the comm today.”

Tony stood there for a minute and watched as she turned for a second.

“It’s not easy for Tony Stark to forget his own comm,” she informed, “and it isn’t any person who can make you forget to mask your concern in your voice.”

“Natasha -”

“Like I said, I’m glad it’s you,” she repeated before adding, “and the team will be too. Whenever you decide to let them know.”

Tony thought about all the times he had been in teams, in small or large, trusted or untrustworthy, and this wasn’t the best. This wasn’t his most memorable one. 

But maybe, maybe it was worth more than a cautious try too.

“Thanks for the recommendation, Ms. Rushman,” he said and Natasha didn’t pause as she punched in the code to the rec room but he could hear the smile in her voice.

“Welcome to your team, Mr. Stark.”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments make writers write more!


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